The entire city of Fengdu was like a sphere shrouded in eerie ghostly energy. Following the directions of the woman with the bright eyes, Xu Milu and her two companions traveled several miles along the River of Oblivion and finally found the legendary Iron Back Mountain.
Unlike the mortal world, the mountains in the underworld are mostly filled with ominous black ghostly energy. The terrain is treacherous, with strange rocks and uneven peaks. The mountain ranges stretch for miles without end, with steep cliffs and bare rocks covered with dense black thorns. The cold wind blows out from the caves, carrying with it ghostly howls and divine wails.
"Is this mountain moving?"
Xu Milu suddenly realized something, held her breath and focused her eyes, and saw that under the black mist that covered the mountain was an enormous millstone. It used the mountain peak as the millstone and the stone pillar as the handle. When the millstone slowly turned, the entire Ironback Mountain would move along the River of Oblivion.
Countless shackled souls pressed down at the foot of the mountain, looking like a dense swarm of ants. Hungry ghosts, water ghosts, hanged ghosts, poor ghosts, happy ghosts, big-headed ghosts, and other monsters all hunched over, desperately pushing against the stone pillar in front of them. The wailing cries of the ghosts were amplified many times through the stone cave.
"Oh dear, Lord Ox-Head, please spare me, please spare me..."
"I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry..."
"Waaaaah, I'm innocent..."
"It hurts so much, it hurts so much, it hurts so much..."
"So tired, so tired, so tired..."
Countless humanoid ghosts wailed and sobbed, their faces covered in blood and tears, their ghostly faces sinister and terrifying.
Before the mountain, the underworld officials were everywhere, summoning and ordering souls. Horse-faced demons urged them to their deaths, their expressions hurried. Some of the imprisoned ghosts were emaciated and had strange appearances; some were covered in pustules and had heads like needle pustules; others were filthy and reeked of foul odors; some had long tongues dragging on the ground and limbs torn apart...
Alongside the mountain were two towering giants, each a hundred meters tall: one with a bull's head, the other with a horse's face. The two demons walked side by side, their soul-snatching iron chains mercilessly lashing at the other ghosts.
"You sinners, who in the mortal world attacked innocent people at will, and humiliated others for the sake of momentary verbal pleasure, thus causing their lives, will have to carry Ironback Mountain along the River of Oblivion for a thousand years after death. Only when Ironback Mountain is moved to the waters of the River of Oblivion and the Yin Water Fairy flowers bloom all over Ironback Mountain will it be the time for you to atone for your sins!"
With each step they took, the earth seemed to tremble slightly beneath their feet, and the ghosts, filled with terror, howled in agony:
"It hurts so much, it hurts so much, it hurts so much..."
"So tired, so tired, so tired..."
"I was wrong, I was wrong, I was so wrong—"
There is a saying that a day in heaven is equivalent to a year on earth, but a day on earth is worth a thousand years in hell.
The ghosts had long lost their senses and only knew to wail and push the heavy mountain forward. As they moved, the entire Ironback Mountain emitted a thunderous roar, mixed with the buzzing wails of ghosts that could shake the underworld. For a moment, all the ghosts grieved together, and the high mountain moved on its own. It was truly awe-inspiring!
Xu Milu couldn't resist taking a picture of the scene before her. The image of ten thousand ghosts moving mountains was exceptionally clear, causing Chen Xiang, who was standing nearby, to tilt his head and look at it.
"Senior sister, look, the flowers are blooming."
He was referring to the Yin Water Immortal that grew in the River of Oblivion. The River of Oblivion stretched endlessly, its waters so low that the sky was obscured, and only the rising and falling mist could be seen.
【Yin Shui Xian: Its flowers and leaves are non-toxic, a spiritual herb. It thrives in extremely yin and cold places, originating from the River of Oblivion. It produces one bone per year; consuming this bone can cure bone diseases. Its leaves resemble scallions and chives, and its flowers resemble a full moon. (This plant is highly sought after by the insectoid race and can be used to make "bone-strengthening agents.")】
Clumps of daffodils emerge straight from the river, their slender, delicate, and emerald-green leaves drooping in elegant arcs. Each emerald-green daffodil stem grows upwards, its tip blooming with translucent white daffodil flowers.
The delicate and graceful daffodils seem to have nothing to do with the eerie underworld. Large swathes of daffodils bloom quietly and passionately, their translucent white flowers shimmering with a faint fluorescence. They are small and weak, yet exceptionally gentle.
Reflected in the boundless waters of the River of Oblivion, this vast expanse of daffodils resembles twinkling stars in the night sky, or tiny moons, making it difficult to distinguish whether the Milky Way lies at the bottom of the River of Oblivion, or whether the River of Oblivion embraces the boundless Milky Way.
Behind the River of Oblivion, countless ghosts weep and Ironback Mountain shifts; before the River of Oblivion, however, the Milky Way shines brightly, and flowers bloom and fade. These two extremely contradictory scenes, stacked together, surprisingly create a ghostly and bizarre extreme beauty.
In a daze, Xu Milu thought it was all a dream.
The flower is a reflection in the mirror, but the moon is not the moon reflected in the water.
...
...
"Don't be lazy! Go! Go!"
Meanwhile, on Ironback Mountain, the Ox-Headed Demon, who was driving away the souls, was shouting and clattering as he waved his soul-locking chains in the air. Hearing the familiar sound, the ghosts at the bottom of the mountain began to wail again.
This bull-headed creature was dressed in black robes and official boots, with an imposing silver armor on its chest. It held a steel fork in its hand, and its bull head was as big as a bucket. Its two bull eyes were almost bulging out of their sockets. It could accurately find any unusual movement in the ghost horde. With a sudden swipe of its two big feet, the entire mountain would shake violently.
—There are many bull-headed demons in the underworld, but only this one, who ranks among the top ten underworld generals, can truly be called a "bull-headed demon".
In contrast to it is the "Horse-Face," a figure with a human body and a horse's face. These two, like the "Black and White Impermanence," have always been frequent figures in folk legends.
"Old Niu, why do I see a few hungry ghosts missing?"
Horse-face looked down and scanned the group of ghosts before noticing something amiss: "This is truly strange! Could they have escaped?"
"Perhaps we weren't paying attention and the big ghost swallowed them... Hmm?" Ox-Head slowly lowered his head, a hint of confusion appearing on his large face: "It seems a few dry wood ghosts are still missing!"
A ghost soldier hurriedly flew to the bull's head's shoulder and whispered:
"General, there were three strangers just now, one of whom was a young man with a tender face. He saw me using starving ghosts to cook, so he followed suit and went to find a few starving ghosts!"
"Um?"
Bull Head's eyes widened: "Where did this madman come from? Releasing prisoners without authorization is a serious crime. Does he intend to break into the prison?"
"Old Niu, today the Northern Ghost King and Judge Wei became in-laws, and the King of Hell specially allowed the Gates of Hell to open for one incense stick. I'm afraid that young man came from the mortal world and is inevitably ignorant of the affairs of the underworld, so he took those firewood ghosts away as ordinary firewood!"
The horse-faced man was all smiles, but with a horse's face, his smile inevitably looked a bit strange.
"That won't do either. There are a total of 13,456 mountain-pushing ghosts. Losing even one would make it difficult to recover. Besides, how could mortals burn firewood in the underworld? The right thing to do is to quickly bring these three to justice!"
The bull exhaled two puffs of white smoke from its nostrils, which transformed into wisps of mist that enveloped it. Its body rapidly shrank, finally returning to its normal size in mid-air.
"Brother Ma, help me! Let's take down these three madmen and go to the King of Hell's palace to claim our credit!"
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